Butterfly numbers at the Pacific Grove Monarch Grove Sanctuary are still at less than 1 percent of the 25,000 expected to overwinter in "Butterfly Town, USA."

The Monarch Alert program, a partnership with California Polytechnic State University, recorded 32 butterflies in the Sanctuary on Jan. 23, and 222 on Jan. 29. None were found in nearby George Washington Park, another historic monarch overwintering grounds. Other sites in Monterey County had similar low numbers, according to the Monarch Alert report:

• Point Lobos State Park: none found (1/23), 4 fliers (1/28)
• Palo Colorado: not surveyed, none found to date (1/23), none found (1/28)
• Andrew Molera State Park: 7 fliers/grounders (1/23), 24 (1 loner, 4 sunners, 19 fliers) (1/29)
• Sycamore Canyon: not surveyed, none found to date (1/23), none found (1/28)
• Private Property, Big Sur: 2913 (1/24), 1,623 (1/28)
• Prewitt Creek: none found (1/24 and 1/28)
• Plaskett Creek: 244 (1/24), 57 (1/28)
• Monterey County Total: 3,196 (1/23-24), 1,930 (1/28-29)

"The high winds during the storms thoroughly scattered the monarchs," the report states. "The first set of surveys reported was done immediately following the severe rainy weather. All sites were, of course, quite humid and warmed quickly once the sun came out."

CalPoly's data appears consistent with the independent "Thanksgiving count" that showed P.G.'s monarch numbers down 96 percent. The next set of surveys is happening today and yesterday, and again on Feb. 8-9.

Although the West Coast monarch population was already experiencing a downward trend in 2008, some members of the public continue to question whether last fall's heavy tree pruning may have contributed to the Sanctuary's extremely low monarch counts this season.

In the new public-private partnership between the city and the Museum Foundation of Pacific Grove, the city's Public Works department oversees Sanctuary maintenance, including the controversial tree trimming, which was done for visitor safety. (The city paid $1 million settlement to the family of a woman killed by a falling tree limb while visiting the Sanctuary several years ago.)

With the 2007 retirement of former museum director Paul Finnegan, responsibility for stewarding the Monarch Sanctuary transfered from the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History to the city Public Works Department. Under the summer 2009 public-private partnership agreement between the city and the Museum Foundation (which met some public opposition), the foundation recruits, trains and coordinates volunteers to serve as Sanctuary docents and provides interpretive signage, but has no other obligation to the grove.

Now, there’s some talk of reviving an old organization to stand for the butterflies. Friends of the Monarchs was founded by the late Ro Vaccaro, who helped lead a successful voter initiative in the early 1990s to save what is now the Monarch Grove Sanctuary from development. Short on board members and energy, FOM dissolved soon after Vaccaro’s January 2008 passing.

Former FOM president Sharon Blaziek - who also sits on the Museum Association and city Museum Advisory boards - worries no one is clearly in charge of P.G.’s monarch stewardship anymore.

“I just feel like we lost control of it,” she says. “We either need a revival of Friend of the Monarchs a similar group with the same purpose.”

 “We saw that as a reason why the Friends needed to exist,” adds newly appointed Museum Advisory Board member Esther Trosow. “Perhaps if there was stronger advocacy going on, this wouldn’t have happened.”